The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-05-14
A Shocking Affair-A Friendly Tussle

Results In Murder.-An affair occurred at Cor
bett Station, Northern Central Railroad, on Sat
urday afternoon last, which resulted in the death
of young coored man and threw that quiet and
peaceful community into high state of excite
ment. The principals in this shocking affair wore
Scott Pearce, big, muscular fellow aged twenty
years, and Edward Bond, coored, aged nineteen
| The facts elected at the coroner's inquest which
| was held by Justice John +. Heisse, of Monkton,
| are about as follows: On Saturday afternoon
Pearce, VIM. Alder and Daniel Smith were engaged
| in digging well on Mr.. r. G. Merryman's place,
at the station, while Bond and another colored
man were engaged in putting up fence on Mr..
Daniel Alder's farm, quite near at hand. About
o'clock heavy rain set in and the five men re-
paired to the blacksmith shop of R. N. Jones, near
| by, for shelter. While there Pearce bantered the
| ether men for boxing match, but none of them
| appeared inclined to face him. Finally Bond got
| up and they made some passes at each other and
| then clinched for tussle. Pearce was getting
angry and finally he got Bonds head under his
arm and while holding him thus, picked up a
small hammer and dealt him two blows, one on
the head and the other in the face, the latter max
| ing wound from which the blood flowed freely.
| They then parted and commenced abusing and
cursing each other. Mr. Jones told them that they
must stop the noise, as it would alarm his family
| and Pearce and Bond then walked out of the shop
| together and went towards Mr.. Daniel Alder's
| barn, only few yards distant. VIM. Alder fol-
| lowed them and saw that as soon as they got in
| side the barn they started into regular rough
and-tumble fight and were on their knees striking
each other with their fists, and Pearce had Bonds
ear between his teeth. Mr.. Alder finally succeeded
in parting them and held on to Pearce, telling Bond
| to run, which he did. Pearce then got knife
from his pocket and opening the blade with
his teeth, threatened to cut Alder if he did not let
him go. He for his own safety, released the now
Infatuated man, who started after Bond on full
run. Bond slipped and fell and Pearce was on
him in an instant, with the open knife in hand
and without another word plunged the blade into
the PROSTATE mans chest the heart, and left
it sticking there. Pearce then disappeared and
Mr.. Alder got the colored man back to the barn,
where he died in twenty minutes. Pearce is son
of Levi Pearce, who lives on the farm of Mr..
Josiah Sparks, near Monkton, and it is supposed
he went directly home. He was arrested on Mon
day evening by Deputy Sheriff Risteau who cap
| tured him and brought him to Jail here. Bond
| lived at Monkton, with his mother and was re-
garded as an inoffensive young fellow. The YER
dict of the coroner's jury was in accordance with
| the above facts.
Col. D. G. Mcintosh, counsel for Pearce, had
him brought out of Jail on Thursday, under a writ
of habeas corpus, and the Court after hearing the
testimony of several witnesses, released the pris-
! oner on $4,000 bail to answer before the next
| Grand Jury. His sureties are Charles W. Alder,
Thomas j. Miller and Henry Harvey, the latter
| being Dr0tner-ln-laW or Pearce.
The Old Story Repeated-He Killed his
Wife with Gun That Wasn't Loaded
William B. Ritter, aged 26 years, who was the
manager of his fathers brick-yards, situated on
Humphreys creek, 18th district, about fourteen
miles from Baltimore, at which place he also con-
Quoted grocery and liquor store, shot and killed
his wife about half past seven o'clock on Tuesday
morning last. The shooting occurred in the store,
in the presence of a number Of colored men, nearly
every of whom told different story of the af-
fair before the coroner's inquest. 1t appears that
Ritter was in the habit Of going out every morn
ing with his gun, and on this occasion his wife
passed the gnn to him over the counter, at the
same time playfully threatening to shoot him. He
took it from her and while carelessly handling it,
believing it. he says, to be unloaded, it dis
charged the charge striking his wife in the right
cheek and passing into her brain, killed her in
stantly. Justice Hevern of Highlandtown, was
summoned and proceeded to hold an inquest.
After examining the men who were present the
jury rendered verdict that Mrs. Ritter came to
her death from the effects of gunshot wound in
ficted by her husband. Ritter was brought to
Towsontown jail Wednesday morning.
DIR. A. S. Warner, of Highlandtown, made the
post norton examination of the body at the in
quest He found the wadding from the cartridge
imbedded in the palate. The right side of the
mouth was torn open to the The right in
were shattered, and portion of the load of shot
had lodged in the base of the brain, causing in
Simultaneous death. Had not the shot reached the
brain, however, the injury would have been almost
Immediately fatal, owing to succeeding hemor-
rhage.
Ritter's statement of the affair is as follows
"I got up early this morning and went to the
shanty and woke up Lee and Cole. We went to
the store and all drank something. Soon after
my wife came from our house, which you is
but few yards away. She brought my breech-
loading gun with her. felt satisfied that it was
not loaded, 1 always take out the cartridges at
night. but 1 always sleep with loaded pistol un-
der my pillow. My wife has been in the habit of
aiming the pistol at me, saying she would shoot
me, which, of course, was in play. When she
came in the store with the gun she said she would
shoot me, and, aiming it at me, pulled the trigger,
but it did not go off. 1 got it from her and said
than y"nld shoot ha- r,,'1ea thn +-icaar =
am certain my wife must have loaded the gun at
the house before she came to the store. My wife
has lived here since March &c. before which we
made our home at 1920 East Preston street, Bal
timore."
The victim of this terrible affair was nearly
twenty three years old and was the daughter of
Mrs. Locks, of Lancaster, Pa She married Ritter
in 1885, and so far as is known they lived happily
together. Ritter was terribly excited after the
shooting and before his arrest made two attempts
to drown himself in the creek.
Assessments on Whisky in Bond.-On
Wednesday the County Commissioners heard the
appeal of the Sherwood distillery against the as
sessment by Frank L. Morling of 5000, 900 worth
of whisky stored in their bonded warehouses.
Mr.. G. Morris Bond represented the distilery.
Mr. John J. Wight testified that his company sold
the whisky to different parties, and it was then
f.placed in bond, passing entirely out Of their
troll. The company did not know the owners Of
the whisky, because after going into bond it had
changed ownership often. Mr.. Bond commended
that even il the whisky belonged to the company,
they were assessed upon their stock and if any ad
vance was made at all it would only advance the
assessment upon the stock, and that would benefit
Baltimore city and not Baltimore county. The
matter, Mr.. Bond said, had been fully investiga-
ted by the Appeal Tax Court of Baltimore city,
and they had determined that whisky in bond,
such that in question: was not assessable to the
companies manufacturing it after it had been sold
and passed out of their possession. 1t was ad-
mitted on both sides that whisky in bond was
taxable, but the owner had to be found.
+. L. Morling and W. Frank Mitchell, who rep
resented the Commissioners, contended that the
distillery company had the whisky stored in their
warehouse, and were the agents or custodians for
the owners and therefore liable to taxation. Mr..
Wight admitted that the company had, when the
assessment was made, about $4,000 barrels Of
whisky stored in their warehouse, but that it be-
longed to other parties. Whisky is often sold
before it is manufactured. Mr.. Wight said the
matter had been before the County Commissioners
when Mr.. Stiefel was president of the Board, and
several other times, and it had always been de-
cided that the whisky was not taxable to the COM
pany.
Mr. Crout said the Commissioners would tax
the whisky if it legal to do so, and before de-
Gliding the matter they would consult Major yell
lott, their counsel.
The Waters distillery at Canton, and the Mel
vale distillery had each been assessed on 100000
worth of whisky in bond. They have also ap-
pealed and will be heard next week. Mr.. r. R..
Boarman represents the Canton distllery, and Mr..
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